Power-transmitting mechanism.



No. 654,826. Patented July 3|, |900.

W. H. BRADHEAD. POWER TRANSMITTING MECHANISM.

(Appueaeion med June 2s, 1899.

frn` ,TATES PATENT Orinoc vF'owER-'runrlslvlITTING MECHANISM.

SPECIFICATION forming part of lLetters I Patent N 654,826, dated duly31, 1900. Application filed June 26, 1899. Serial No- 721,801. (Nomodel.)

Torcrllnwhrom it may concern. Y. f

Be it known that I, WILLIAM H. BRO'AD- HEAD, of Somerville,` county ofMiddlesex, State of Massachusetts, have invented an Im- I provelnent inPower-Transmitting Mechantures in the embodiment thereof herein rep-yresented a motive agent including a power transmitting member, a drivingelement, means for effecting the movement of said driving members,including a locking device, and means actuated bysaid powertransmittingmember and operative to cause the reciprocation of said locking devicebetween two points, both of which are located at one side of thedead-center line of said driving element, and these several parts may beof any suitable kind.

In the present instance IV have represented the motive agent asconsisting of a cylinder and the power-applying member as a pistontherein provided with a rod, and the piston is propelled forward by theexplosion of a hydrocarbon vapor ignited therein bya spark, which can besuitably produced. In the ordinary types of explosive-motors it is thecus/- tom to explode the vapor which operates the piston when the crankwhich receives its motion from the piston is at its dead-center orsubstantially near the same, and the momentum of the fly-wheel isdepended upon to carry the crank beyond its dead-center. As

v is obvious, in such a case as this considerable power is wasted, theline of thrust being substantially against the dead-center of the crankwhen said crankis at its lowest efliciency.

By my improvement, however, this loss of power is not possible, as thelocking device is supported for oscillation between two points, both ofwhich are located at opposite sides of the dead-center line.

The invention includes Vas another of its features, in connection with amotor-vehicle having a power-applying member operative from a retractiveposition to its forward position by energy generated by saidmotiveagent, driving means for said power-applying member and meansdriven by said driving means for returning said power driving member toits retractive or primary position, thereby avoiding the necessity ofindependent mechanisms or parts for securing this last-named function. IIn the drawings, Figure 1 `is a side elevation of la motor, illustratingthe same in the preferred embodiment thereof and showing the'parts infull lines at their primary or initial positions and the cylinder beingin sec tion and broken apart and the ends brought togetherfor economy inspace; Fig. 2 is a top plan view of a portion of the mechanismcontrolled by the motive agent or cylinder@ Fig. 3 is a horizontalvsection of a portion of theV oscillating driver.

It is apparent that the motor is capable of a variety of uses, and itserves as an ecient medium for propelling a vehicle, and includes in itsconstruction in the form thereof herein illustrated a cylinder, as C,supported by standards, as 5, rising from the bed or base plate 6. The'cylinder is adapted to contain the piston 7 ,which is peripherallypacked,

as customary, and which is provided with a rod S, extended through thestuffing-box 9. The other head of the cylinder is adapted to receive thesupply and exhaust pipes 10 and 12, between which a sparking appliance,as 13, is disposed, that illustrated-being of the electrical type.

The supply and exhaust valves are denoted by 1t' and 15, respectively,and their stems 16 project through the supply and exhaust pipes andalsothrough the rear head of the cylinder and are of substantially disk formand are adapted to close ports or passages in said head. The valves areheld shut by the protractile coiled springs 17, whichsurround thevalve-stems 16 and bear against the stops 18 on said stems and alsoagainst shoulders or offsets 1S upon the supply and exhaust pipes. Thestops 18 are in the nature of nuts.

The means for operating the valve 14 to IOO open the same and therebyadmitvapor to be= exploded in the explosion-chamber of the cylinder Care not herein illustrated, and they may be of any suitable type.

j The exhaust-,valve is operated by the rod 20, supported-by suitablebearings upon the bed 6 and having at one end the transverse arm 21,adapted to receive the stem of the exhaust-valve and to be disposedbetweenthe nuts 18, which constitute the stop against which the blow-upspring acts.

The driving-shaft ofthe motor is denoted by 22, and it is supported forrotation by bearings upon the bed of the machine and has securedtheretok the driving-wheel, which `is rotated through the interventionofa device, hereinafter to be described, acting in the lpresent caseagainst the periphery or rim of said wheel23. 4. 5

The device which rotates the wheel 23 is in the nature of a, rocker-armsubstantially'in the form of an angle-lever, the main arm 25 of whichbeinglrepresented as operated by the piston-rod 8 in such a mannery thatthe point at which the power is applied to the arm 25 will always be atone side of the dead- .center line of the whee1'23, which line is rep.

resented as being a vertical one, although it may extend in any otherdirection. l

The auxiliary arm 26 is represented as carrying a pawl'or dog which maybe of any suitable type,` but which is of the frictional kind, it havinga jaw or jaws to engage the periphery or rimof the wheel for the purposeof rotating the same. While the auxiliary arm carries the dog or pawlfor operating the wheel 23, it is evident that this is not essential,for said pawl ordog might be carried by t themain arm.

The main arm 25 of the rocker is shown as connected by the link 27 withthe hub or projection 28 upon the piston-rod 8, said link being pivotedto the respective parts.

- In Fig. l the parts are represented by full n lines as occupying theirprimary positions.

- When an explosion takes place behind the piston 7, the latter isdriven forward, thereby moving the rod 8 in the corresponding direction,and consequently through the link 27 swinging the arm 25 from itsprimary position-tothe end of its advancing stroke, (represented bydotted lines in said gure,)and during the forward stroke of the rockerthe pawl or dog carried by the auxiliary arm` of the rocker by engagingthe wheel 23 will rotate the same, and the pawl will be automaticallyfreed from the wheel when the rocker has v reached the end of itsforward stroke, so that the rocker-can be returned to its normalposition, although of course the wheel 23 will continue to rotate. Y f

- The pawl or dog which operates the wheel 23, and consequently theshaft 22, to drive an appliance connected with said shaft is denoted ina general way byD, and it includes in its construction a body portion30, adapted .to fit withinthe recess 31 in the arm 26 and provided withan offset portion having a longitudinal slot 33 to receive the pivot-pin34,

carried by the projection 35 at the free end of the arm 26, and theconstruction specified permits a limited amount of longitudinal movementof the pawl. The pawl 30, which is in the nature of a gravity one, isprovided with the jaws or blocks 36, the inner onebeingadjustablebythescrew37,passingthrough v-the lug 38 on saidpawl, andby reason of this adjustmentrthe grip of the inner jaw can be properlyyregulated to take up any wear by moving the inner block or jaw towardits companion. The working edges or faces of the blocks are adapted to`pinch the rim 23 of the wheel 23 when the pawl D falls from adead-center line intersecting thel axisof the pivot or stud 34 .and theshaft 22, so that-when the rocker is operated in the manner`hereinbefore specified it will serve, through the agency of the pawl,to, rotate the wheel 23. The shaft 22 is provided with abalan'ce-wheelW, the momentum of which is utilized to 4drive said shaftwhen the rocker has reached the end of its working stroke, as shown bydotted lines in Fig. 1. On the reverse or ineective movement of therocker the pawl carried ,by the auxiliary arm 26 can be swungto thedead-centerline last referred to, whereby the jaws or blocks36 willrelease the wheel 23 and not eect the proper action thereof. A secondshaft is located at 40, mounted upon suitable bearings and having thegear 41 keyed thereto and which vmeshes with the gear 42, keyed to theshaft 22, the ratio between the gears belng one to two. The shaft 40 isrepresented as provided with an actuating-arm 43, rigidlysecuredthe1eto,and which is operated through the agency of the meshinggears 42 and 41,respectively, and this actuating-arm inl the presentinstance controls the action of the piston, it being shown provided atits free end with a projection or tappet 44, adapted to engage theoffsets 45 and 46, secured at different places to the pistonrod 8 tomove said rod back and forth.

In Fig. 1 the oppositely-disposed osets 45 and 46 are represented asoccupying their primary positions at the left in said figure, theprojection 44 of the actuator 434 being in engagement with the upper endof theoifset 46 and below the lower end of the offset 45. When anexplosion takes place, the piston 7 will be advanced tothe full end ofits stroke `and will serve', through the intermediate connections, tooperate the rocker-arm, whereby the wheel 23 will be rotated by the pawlD, `thereby throughvthe meshing 'gears causing the rotation of the shaft40, and consequently the actuator 43. As theactuator 43 rotates theprojection 44 thereon, being in contact withthe left-hand face of theoffset 46, will thrust said offset to the right, the projection ridingAdown said face and reaching the end l of the same when Athe oset is in aposition IOO IIO

exactly intermediate the ends of its stroke. When the offset 46 is insuch intermediate position, the project-ion 44, which hasthen reached aposition slightly to the right of a vertical position, will pass up saidface and out of contact with the same, said offset 4G in the meantimehaving reached the end of its stroke, as indicated by the dotted linesat the right in Fig. 1. Vhen the piston 7 has reached the end of itsstroke, the offset 45 will occupy a position shown by the dotted linesin Fig. 1, and when the projection 44 of the actuator 43 passes out ofcontact with the offset 46 it will strike the right-hand face of theoffset 45, which is disposed in its path, and will ride up the sameuntil it reaches nearly the upper end of said face, at which point theoffset 45 will be in an intermediate position. Beyond this point theprojection 44 will ride d own the offset 45 until the latter has reachedits primary position, the piston 7 being of course forced rearward.Therefore it will be understood that the actuator 48, which is operatedfrom the piston, serves to actuate the piston rearwardly. Theorganization is such that a very powerful force is applied to the wheel23 and also to the balance-wheel W, so that I can utilize the effect ofsaid balance-wheel, due to its momentum, to cause the operation of thepiston-rod S and the otherparts connected therewith in regular orpredetermined order. The ratio of the gears 42 and 41, as hereinbeforeset forth, `is two toV one, by reason of which the arm 43 will berotated twice to each complete rotation of the shaft 22, which receivesits rotation from the explosion. Therefore the actuator 43 bysuccessively engaging the offsets 46 and 45 im parts a full bevel stroketo the piston-rod after the explosion has been made and While the shaft22 of course has only made a half-rotation. By varying the size ofthegears 42 and 41 the stroke of the piston can be otherwise regulated. Y

The connectingrod 20 has a crank portion 50 extending around thedriving-shaft 22, and the connecting-rod is operated bythe actuator 51upon the main shaft 22. In Fig. 1 the actuator 5l is shown as being incontact with the right-hand branch or part of the crank portion or yoke50. On the rotation of the shaft in the direction of the arrow(indicated in Fig. l) the actuator 51 will be correspondingly moved andwill ride in contact with the inside face of the yoke 50, during whichtime the exhaust-valve I5 will be held closed. When, however, theactuator-arm 51 passes above the yoke portion, the spring 17 Will forcethe exhaust-valve open. On the continued movement of the actuator-arm itWill again come in contact with the yoke portion 50 to close theexhaust-valve.

While I have hereinbefore described my improvements as applied to anexplosive-engine, it is evident that they may be used with equaladvantage in connection with other kinds of motors, and it will beunderstood that the invention is not limited to the exact elements orarrangement of parts hereinbefore specified, for these may be variouslymodiied within the scope of the accompany- Vmechanism for operating thepiston.

`2. In a power-transmitting mechanism, a

cylinder, a piston insaid cylinder provided with a rod, driven mechanismincluding a train of diderential gears actuated by said rod, and meansoperated by said driven mech anism for operating the piston.

3. In a power-transmitting mechanism, a cylinder, a piston located insaid cylinder and provided with a rod, a two-to-one train ofintermeshing gears, connections between the rod and the large gear foroperating said large gear, and means controlled by the small gear foroperating the piston.

4. In a power-transmitting mechanism, a

motive agent including a power-applying member operative from itsbackward to a forward position, driven mechanism operated by saidpower-applying member on its forward stroke, and means operated by saiddriven means for imparting a return stroke to the power-applying member.1 5. In a power-transmitting mechanism, a motive agent including a powerapplying member operative from a backward to a forward position, drivenmeans operated by a power-applying member on its forward stroke, andmeans operated by said driven means for reciprocating saidpower-applying member and for also returning the same to its initialposition.

6. In a power-transmitting mechanism, a motive agent including a powerapplying member, ashaft, a wheel carried by said shaft, a rocker havinga pawl for operating the Wheel and connected with the power-applyingmember, and means operated by said shaft for operating thepower-applying member.

7. In a power-transmitting mechanism, a cylinder having valve mechanismand provided with a piston equipped with a rod, driven mechanismoperated by the rod, a member for governing the valve mechanism andcontrolled by said driven mechanism, and means operated by the drivenmechanism for actuating the piston-rod.

8. In a power-transmitting mechanism, a cylinder, a piston locatedinsaid cylinder and provided with a rod, a driven element, means foreffecting the movement of said driven element and including a rockingdevice, means actuated by said power-transmitting member and located toact against said rocking de- IOO n vice, and to canse the reciprocationof the same at one side only of a dead-center line,

`and means operated by said driven element for returning the piston-rodto its initial position.

9. In a power-transmitting mechanism, a cylinder, a piston located insaid cylinder and provided -with a rod, said rod .having an offset, adriven element, means for effecting the movement of said driven elementand including a rocking device, means actuated by saidpower-transmitting member and located to act against said rocking deviceand to cause the reciprocation of the same at one side only of thedead-center line of said driven element and an arin connected with andoperated by said driven element and having a projection adapted toengage said offset to return-the piston to its initial position. v

10. In a power-transmitting mechanism, a zo cylinder, a piston in saidcylinder provided with a rod, driven mechanism connected with WILLIAM H.BRO ADHEAD.

Witnessesz FREDERICK L. EMERY, HEATH SUTHERLAND.

